Meet the Yoga Vidya Faculty
Meghan Hogan
200 and 340 hour program Teaching Assistant, Lead Faculty of Satellite Programs, Elemental Meditation Faculty
Meghan has been developing yoga teachers through her roles as Teaching Assistant and Lead Trainer within the Yoga Vidya School since 2014. Her mission is to guide people home to their own hearts, trusting that cultivating this inner relationship fosters uplifted connections in homes and communities. Meghan is ever-grateful to her Teacher, Lauren Toolin who has inspired her appreciation of yoga as an energy management system that holistically transforms and empowers.
Preeti Bavdekar
200 and 340 hour teacher training anatomy expert, Yoga for Young Ones, Trauma Informed Yoga
Preeti has much gratitude to have found an extremely knowledgeable teacher in Lauren Toolin who speaks with much devotion about her lineage to the Himalayan Institute and brings those authentic teachings of yoga along with her 25 + years of teaching experience to her trainings through
her Yoga Vidya school.
Much like her teacher, Preeti finds the uniqueness of Yoga Vidya in being able to impart freedom from dogma while staying grounded in the purity and essence of the yoga teachings. In this freedom lies the potential for each individual of a thousand petaled lotus. Only then can a practice serve with utmost safety the medical, physical, mental, emotional needs of an individual and help them shift to grow towards deeper healing and lasting wellness; from surviving to thriving in this beautiful creation to create more beauty. Preeti feels the blessing hand of the lineage whenever she teaches.
Preeti completed her 200-hr Yoga teacher Training through Yoga Vidya in 2012 and was shortly thereafter invited by Lauren to teach Anatomy for the 200 and 300 hr teacher training programs. Preeti is beyond delighted to integrate her passion in her profession of physical therapy and her adoration of her yoga practice to present Anatomy in the trainings. Preeti is also faculty in Yoga Vidya’s ancillary programs -Yoga for Young Ones and Trauma Informed Yoga – providing expertise in neurodevelopmental science and its practical application as it relates to yoga.
Kaela Knoth
200 Hour Teacher Training Teaching Assistant
I'm Kaela, a passionate student and teacher of personal growth and empowerment. Yoga has allowed me to cultivate roots within my own being, making peace with my mind and body, and accessing the peace within my soul with more frequency and ease. Sharing this knowledge has helped me grow roots within the community so we all may rise up together with the great wisdom of "Yoga Vidya." My offerings are inspired by the words and teachings of Lauren Toolin and the school of Yoga Vidya. We gently guide awareness internally at the same time expanding into our limitlessness. Jai Maa.
Rebekah Magin
Yoga for Young Ones, Trauma Informed Yoga
Rebekah Magin is a social worker, educator and organizational trauma consultant. Rebekah is a 2016 graduate of Yoga Vidya's 200-hr teacher training. Rebekah has since taught Hatha yoga in a variety of settings including community centers, schools, and shelters. In 2016 Rebekah founded Prana Mani to support the creation of holistic, trauma,-ready schools programs and communities through professional education and the wisdom tradition of Yoga.
Amber Jasmine
200 Hour Teacher Training Teaching Assistant
“Yoga unveils my inner light, as a teacher I want to hold space for my students to do the same.”
Amber Jasmine has practiced yoga as a way of aligning her mind, body and spirit for almost three years. Yoga has provided her with a deep-seated steadiness in the ever-changing world.
This journey inspired Amber to become a teacher. Yoga Vidya offered Amber a wealth of knowledge to heighten her appreciation for the practice and philosophy of yoga. Her passion for the gifts of yoga have allowed Amber to form her artistry as a teacher. Amber’s goal as a teacher is to share the skillful action of yoga and support each student on their journey toward inner enlightenment. Amber believes in healing through yoga and aims to be a resource for holistic wellness in the capital region and beyond.
Jennifer Greene-Gillooley
Yoga for Young Ones Faculty
As an occupational therapist for over 30 years the combination of Yoga and Occupational Therapy is something I am truly passionate about. I trained with Lauren Toolin in 2014 becoming certified as a “Yoga forYoung Ones” teacher and in 2015 received 200 hour training with Lauren through Yoga Vidya. Working with children who experience sensory-motor challenges or emotional trauma it is truly a team approach. I love being part of the YFYO team. My role as faculty within the training is to bring sensory processing and yoga
together with readily available strategies participants can employ at school, home or in the studio. Our young ones know, Yoga is, Quiet Mind, Calm Body and Open Heart.
Beth Phillips
Radical Relaxation Restorative Yoga Faculty
Beth has studied Yoga since she was a teenager, when her mother brought her to her first Yoga class. She feels that in our current frenetically paced society, where the demands placed upon us often outweigh our physical and mental resources, Yogic practices can give us the tools to pause and provide sacred space for our bodies and minds to rest. From her own personal experience, she has found that if we allow ourselves this type of respite, the result is that we are better able to meet our day to day victories and challenges from a place of peace and joy rather than from a place of exhaustion.
In 2012 Beth graduated from Lauren Toolin’s Yoga teacher training program and the following year studied Judith Lasater, the creator of modern day Restorative Yoga. For the past eight years she has taught Yoga to students and faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Beth is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker working in the Medical, Hospice, and Mental Health Fields for over 15 years. She loves how the 5,000-year-old Yogic practices are not only still relevant today, but how closely they relate to science and psychology, and she often applies Yogic practices and principals when working with her clients in private therapy practice. Beth is also a Reiki Master/Teacher, is trained in Thai Yoga Level 1, and is an initiate of the Himalayan Institute. She used to compete in ballroom dancing, and in her spare time enjoys knitting, reading, and spending time with her BFF (Best Feline Friend).
Martha Kronholm Moscowitz
200 Hour Teacher Training Teaching Assistant
Martha Kronholm Moscowitz, RYT-500, has been teaching yoga since 2011 in New York's Capital District. She began her inquiries in Western Massachusetts as a teenager with Kripalu trained instructors. She studies now, since 2017, with Lauren Toolin. She is inspired by the practicality of the Sri Vidya teachings and plans to continue her inquires and teaching style in this lineage. Martha also serves as a teaching assistant for Lauren's annual Wednesday 200-hour teacher training program, and completed her 500 hour certification with Lauren in the winter of 2020. Martha has a love of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and faith in the power of kaya sampat, the rich treasures of the body, as a means to higher realization. Martha's aim is to help students shift the role of yoga in their lives from a way to recover from the changes of daily life, into a way to master the changes in one's life.